mod_cluster Documentation

1. Overview ...................................................................................................................... 1.1. Platforms ............................................................................................................ 1.2. Advantages ........................................................................................................ 1.3. Requirements ..................................................................................................... 1.4. Limitations .......................................................................................................... 1.5. Downloads ......................................................................................................... 1.6. Configuration ...................................................................................................... 1.7. Migration ............................................................................................................ 1.8. SSL support ....................................................................................................... 1.9. Load Balancing Demo Application ....................................................................... 2. Quick Start Guide ........................................................................................................ 2.1. Download mod_cluster components ..................................................................... 2.2. Install the httpd binary ........................................................................................ 2.2.1. Install the whole httpd .............................................................................. 2.2.2. Install only the modules ............................................................................ 2.2.3. Install in home directory ........................................................................... 2.2.4. Install in Windows ....................................................................................

1 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 6 6

2.3. Configure httpd ................................................................................................... 7 2.4. Install the server-side binaries ............................................................................. 8 2.4.1. Installing in JBoss AS 6.x ......................................................................... 8 2.4.2. Installing in JBoss AS 5.x ......................................................................... 8 2.4.3. Installing in JBoss Web or Tomcat ............................................................ 8 2.4.4. Installing in JBoss AS 4.2.x or 4.3.x .......................................................... 9 2.5. Configuring the server-side .................................................................................. 9 2.5.1. Configuring mod_cluster with JBoss AS 5.x+ ............................................. 9 2.5.2. Configuring mod_cluster with standalone JBoss Web or Tomcat .................. 9 2.5.3. Integrate mod_cluster with JBoss AS 4.2.x and 4.3.x .................................. 9 2.6. Start httpd .......................................................................................................... 9 2.7. Start the back-end server .................................................................................. 10 2.7.1. Starting JBoss AS .................................................................................. 10 2.7.2. Starting JBossWeb or Tomcat ................................................................. 10 2.8. Set up more back-end servers ........................................................................... 10 2.9. Experiment with the Load Balancing Demo Application ........................................ 10 3. httpd configuration .................................................................................................... 11 3.1. Apache httpd configuration ................................................................................ 11 3.2. mod_proxy configuration ................................................................................... 11 3.3. mod_slotmem configuration ............................................................................... 11 3.4. mod_proxy_cluster ............................................................................................ 12 3.4.1. CreateBalancers ..................................................................................... 12 3.4.2. UseAlias ................................................................................................ 12 3.4.3. LBstatusRecalTime ................................................................................. 12 3.4.4. ProxyPassMatch/ProxyPass .................................................................... 13 3.5. mod_manager ................................................................................................... 13 3.5.1. MemManagerFile ................................................................................... 13

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mod_cluster Documentation

3.5.2. Maxcontext ............................................................................................ 3.5.3. Maxnode ................................................................................................ 3.5.4. Maxhost ................................................................................................. 3.5.5. Maxsessionid ......................................................................................... 3.5.6. ManagerBalancerName .......................................................................... 3.5.7. PersistSlots ............................................................................................ 3.5.8. CheckNonce .......................................................................................... 3.5.9. AllowDisplay .......................................................................................... 3.5.10. AllowCmd ............................................................................................ 3.5.11. ReduceDisplay ..................................................................................... 3.5.12. SetHandler mod_cluster-manager .......................................................... 3.6. mod_advertise .................................................................................................. 3.6.1. ServerAdvertise ...................................................................................... 3.6.2. AdvertiseGroup ...................................................................................... 3.6.3. AdvertiseFrequency ................................................................................ 3.6.4. AdvertiseSecurityKey .............................................................................. 3.6.5. AdvertiseManagerUrl .............................................................................. 3.6.6. AdvertiseBindAddress ............................................................................. 3.7. Minimal Example .............................................................................................. Building httpd modules ............................................................................................. 4.1. Build a patched httpd from it sources ................................................................. 4.2. Build the 4 modules of mod_cluster ................................................................... 4.3. Build the mod_proxy module ............................................................................. Installing httpd modules ............................................................................................ 5.1. Configuration .................................................................................................... 5.2. Installing and using the bundles ......................................................................... Server-side Configuration .......................................................................................... 6.1. JBoss AS ......................................................................................................... 6.1.1. Non-clustered mode ............................................................................... 6.1.2. Clustered mode ...................................................................................... 6.1.3. Configuration Properties ......................................................................... 6.1.4. Connectors ............................................................................................ 6.1.5. Node Identity ......................................................................................... 6.2. JBoss Web & Tomcat ....................................................................................... 6.2.1. Lifecycle Listener ................................................................................... 6.2.2. Additional Tomcat dependencies ............................................................. 6.3. Migrating from 1.0.x .......................................................................................... 6.3.1. Dependency with JBoss Web .................................................................. 6.3.2. server.xml .............................................................................................. 6.3.3. mod_cluster-jboss-beans.xml .................................................................. AS7 modcluster subsystem Configuration ................................................................ 7.1. ModCluster Subsystem in JBoss AS7 ................................................................ 7.2. ModCluster Subsystem minimal configuration ..................................................... 7.3. ModCluster Subsystem configuration ..................................................................

13 13 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 15 15 17 17 17 17 17 17 18 18 19 19 19 20 21 21 21 23 23 23 24 25 26 26 26 27 27 27 27 27 28 29 29 29 29

4.

5.

6.

7.

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7.3.1. mod-cluster-config Attributes ................................................................... 7.3.2. simple-load-provider Attributes ................................................................ 7.3.3. dynamic-load-provider Attributes ............................................................. 7.3.4. load-metric Configuration ........................................................................ 7.3.5. custom-load-metric Configuration ............................................................ 8. Building Server-Side Components ............................................................................. 8.1. Requirements ................................................................................................... 8.2. Building ............................................................................................................ 8.3. Build Artifacts ................................................................................................... 9. Server-side Configuration Properties ........................................................................ 9.1. Proxy Discovery Configuration ........................................................................... 9.2. Proxy Configuration ........................................................................................... 9.3. SSL Configuration ............................................................................................. 9.4. HA Configuration .............................................................................................. 9.5. Load Configuration for JBoss Web and Tomcat .................................................. 10. Server-Side Load Metrics ......................................................................................... 10.1. Web Container metrics .................................................................................... 10.1.1. ActiveSessionsLoadMetric ................................................................. 10.1.2. BusyConnectorsLoadMetric ................................................................. 10.1.3. ReceiveTrafficLoadMetric ................................................................. 10.1.4. SendTrafficLoadMetric ...................................................................... 10.1.5. RequestCountLoadMetric .................................................................... 10.2. System/JVM metrics ........................................................................................ 10.2.1. AverageSystemLoadMetric .................................................................. 10.2.2. SystemMemoryUsageLoadMetric ........................................................... 10.2.3. HeapMemoryUsageLoadMetric ............................................................... 10.3. Other metrics .................................................................................................. 10.3.1. ConnectionPoolUsageLoadMetric ........................................................ 11. Installing Server-Side Components ......................................................................... 11.1. Installing in JBoss AS 6.0.0.M1 and up ............................................................ 11.2. Installing in JBoss AS 5.x ................................................................................ 11.3. Installing in JBoss Web or Tomcat ................................................................... 11.4. Installing in JBoss AS 4.2.x or 4.3.x ................................................................. 12. Using SSL in mod_cluster ....................................................................................... 12.1. Using SSL between JBossWEB and httpd ........................................................ 12.1.1. Apache httpd configuration part ............................................................. 12.1.2. ClusterListener configuration part .......................................................... 12.1.3. mod-cluster-jboss-beans configuration part ............................................. 12.1.4. How the diferent files were created ........................................................ 12.2. Using SSL between httpd and JBossWEB ........................................................ 12.2.1. How the diferent files were created ........................................................ 12.3. Forwarding SSL browser informations when using http/https between httpd and JBossWEB .............................................................................................................. 13. Migration from mod_jk .............................................................................................

29 30 30 31 31 33 33 33 33 35 35 38 41 43 43 45 46 46 47 47 48 49 49 49 50 50 51 51 53 53 53 53 53 55 55 55 55 56 56 58 59 60 61

mod_cluster Documentation

14. Migration from mod_proxy ...................................................................................... 14.1. Workers .......................................................................................................... 14.2. Balancers ....................................................................................................... 15. Load Balancing Demo Application ........................................................................... 15.1. Overview ........................................................................................................ 15.2. Basic Usage ................................................................................................... 15.3. Client Driver Configuration Options .................................................................. 15.4. Load Generation Scenarios ............................................................................. 16. Change Log ............................................................................................................. 16.1. 1.1.3.Final (12 August 2011) ............................................................................ 16.2. 1.1.2.Final (21 April 2011) ............................................................................... 16.3. 1.1.1.Final (31 January 2011) .......................................................................... 16.4. 1.1.0.Final (13 August 2010) ............................................................................ 16.5. 1.1.0.CR3 (15 June 2010) ............................................................................... 16.6. 1.1.0.CR2 (11 May 2010) ................................................................................ 16.7. 1.1.0.CR1 (22 March 2010) ............................................................................. 16.8. 1.1.0.Beta1 (30 October 2009) ......................................................................... 17. Frequently Asked questions .................................................................................... 17.1. What is Advertise ............................................................................................ 17.2. What to do if I don't want to use Advertise (multicast): ....................................... 17.3. I am using Tomcat 7 / 6 what should I do: ........................................................ 17.4. It is not working what should I do: .................................................................... 17.4.1. No error ............................................................................................... 17.4.2. Error in server.log or catalina.out ........................................................... 17.4.3. Error in error_log ..................................................................................

63 63 64 67 67 67 69 71 75 75 75 76 77 77 78 79 80 83 83 83 84 84 84 86 88

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Chapter 1.

Overview
mod_cluster is an httpd-based load balancer. Like mod_jk and mod_proxy, mod_cluster uses a communication channel to forward requests from httpd to one of a set of application server nodes. Unlike mod_jk and mod_proxy, mod_cluster leverages an additional connection between the application server nodes and httpd. The application server nodes use this connection to transmit server-side load balance factors and lifecycle events back to httpd via a custom set of HTTP methods, affectionately called the Mod-Cluster Management Protocol (MCMP). This additional feedback channel allows mod_cluster to offer a level of intelligence and granularity not found in other load balancing solutions. Within httpd, mod_cluster is implemented as a set of modules for httpd with mod_proxy enabled. Much of the logic comes from mod_proxy, e.g. mod_proxy_ajp provides all the AJP logic needed by mod_cluster.

1.1. Platforms
JBoss already prepares binary packages [http://www.jboss.org/mod_cluster/downloads.html] with httpd and mod_cluster so you can quickly try mod_cluster on the following platforms:

Linux x86, x64, ia64 Solaris x86, SPARC Windows x86, x64, ia64 HP-UX PA-RISC, ia64

1.2. Advantages
mod_cluster boasts the following advantages over other httpd-based load balancers:

Dynamic configuration of httpd workers Traditional httpd-based load balancers require explicit configuration of the workers available to a proxy. In mod_cluster, the bulk of the proxy's configuration resides on the application servers. The set of proxies to which an application server will communicate is determined either by a static list or using dynamic discovery via the advertise mechanism. The application server relays lifecycle events (e.g. server startup/shutdown) to the proxies allowing them to effectively auto-configure themselves. Notably, the graceful shutdown of a server will not result in a failover response by a proxy, as is the case with traditional httpd-based load balancers. Server-side load balance factor calculation In contrast with traditional httpd-based load balancers, mod_cluster uses load balance factors calculated and provided by the application servers, rather than computing these in the proxy.

Chapter 1. Overview

Consequently, mod_cluster offers a more robust and accurate set of load metrics than is available from the proxy. See the chapter entitled Server-Side Load Metrics for details. Fine grained web-app lifecycle control Traditional httpd-based load balancers do not handle web application undeployments particularly well. From the proxy's perspective requests to an undeployed web application are indistinguishable from a request for an non-existent resource, and will result in 404 errors. In mod_cluster, each server forwards any web application context lifecycle events (e.g. web-app deploy/undeploy) to the proxy informing it to start/stop routing requests for a given context to that server. AJP is optional Unlike mod_jk, mod_cluster does not require AJP. httpd connections to application server nodes can use HTTP, HTTPS, or AJP. The original concepts are described in a wiki [http://www.jboss.org/community/docs/DOC-11431].

1.3. Requirements
httpd-2.2.8+ JBoss AS 5.0.0+ or JBossWeb 2.1.1+

Note
httpd-2.2.8+ is already in the bundles, so if you use the bundle you don't need to download Apache httpd.

1.4. Limitations
mod_cluster uses shared memory to keep the nodes description, the shared memory is created at the start of httpd and the structure of each item is fixed. The following can't be changed by configuration directives. Max Alias length 40 characters (Host: hostname header, Alias in <Host/>). Max context length 40 (for example myapp.war deploys in /myapp /myapp is the context). Max balancer name length 40 (balancer property in mbean). Max JVMRoute string length 80 (JVMRoute in <Engine/>). Max load balancing group name length 20 (domain property in mbean). Max hostname length for a node 64 (address in the <Connector/>). Max port length for a node 7 (8009 is 4 characters, port in the <Connector/>).

Downloads

Max scheme length for a node 6 (possible values are http, https, ajp, liked with the protocol of <Connector/>). Max cookie name 30 (the header cookie name for sessionid default value: JSESSIONID from org.apache.catalina.Globals.SESSION_COOKIE_NAME). Max path name 30 (the parameter name for the sessionid default value: jsessionid from org.apache.catalina.Globals.SESSION_PARAMETER_NAME). Max length for a sessionid BE81FAA969BF64C8EC2B6600457EAAAA.node01). 120 (something like

1.5. Downloads
Download the latest mod_cluster release here [http://www.jboss.org/mod_cluster/downloads/ latest]. The release is comprised of the following artifacts:

httpd binaries for common platforms JBoss AS/JBossWeb/Tomcat binary distribution Alternatively, you can build from source using the subversion repository: http://anonsvn.jboss.org/repos/mod_cluster/tags/release/ mod_cluster/tags/] [http://anonsvn.jboss.org/repos/

Building httpd modules Building server-side components

1.6. Configuration
If you want to skip the details and just set up a minimal working installation of mod_cluster, see the Quick Start Guide.

Configuring httpd Configuring JBoss AS Configuring JBoss Web or Tomcat

1.7. Migration
Migrating from mod_jk or mod_proxy is fairly straight forward. In general, much of the configuration previously found in httpd.conf is now defined in the application server nodes.

Chapter 1. Overview

Migrating from mod_jk Migrating from mod_proxy

1.8. SSL support

Both the request connections between httpd and the application server nodes, and the feedback channel between the nodes and httpd can be secured. The former is achieved via the mod_proxy_https module and a corresponding ssl-enabled HTTP connector in JBoss Web. The latter requires the mod_ssl module and explicit configuration in JBoss AS/Web.

1.9. Load Balancing Demo Application

The mod_cluster binary distribution for JBoss AS/JBossWeb/Tomcat includes a demo application that helps demonstrate how different server-side scenarios affect the routing of client requests by the load balancer. The demo application is located in the mod_cluster distribution's demo directory.

Strong cryptography warning

mod_cluster contains mod_ssl, therefore the following warning (copied from OpenSSL [http://www.openssl.org/]) applies: PLEASE REMEMBER THAT EXPORT/IMPORT AND/OR USE OF STRONG CRYPTOGRAPHY SOFTWARE, PROVIDING CRYPTOGRAPHY HOOKS OR EVEN JUST COMMUNICATING TECHNICAL DETAILS ABOUT CRYPTOGRAPHY SOFTWARE IS ILLEGAL IN SOME PARTS OF THE WORLD. SO, WHEN YOU IMPORT THIS PACKAGE TO YOUR COUNTRY, RE-DISTRIBUTE IT FROM THERE OR EVEN JUST EMAIL TECHNICAL SUGGESTIONS OR EVEN SOURCE PATCHES TO THE AUTHOR OR OTHER PEOPLE YOU ARE STRONGLY ADVISED TO PAY CLOSE ATTENTION TO ANY EXPORT/IMPORT AND/OR USE LAWS WHICH APPLY TO YOU. THE AUTHORS OF OPENSSL ARE NOT LIABLE FOR ANY VIOLATIONS YOU MAKE HERE. SO BE CAREFUL, IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.

Chapter 2.

Quick Start Guide

The following are the steps to set up a minimal working installation of mod_cluster on a single httpd server and a single back end server, either JBoss AS, JBossWeb or Tomcat. The steps can be repeated to add as many httpd servers or back end servers to your cluster as is desired. The steps shown here are not intended to demonstrate how to set up a production install of mod_cluster; for example using SSL to secure access to the httpd-side mod_manager component is not covered. See the httpd-side and java-side configuration documentation for the full set of configuration options.

2.1. Download mod_cluster components

Download the latest httpd and java release bundles [http://www.jboss.org/mod_cluster/ downloads/latest.html]. If there is no pre-built httpd bundle appropriate for your OS or system architecture, you can build the binary from source.

2.2. Install the httpd binary

2.2.1. Install the whole httpd
The httpd-side bundles are gzipped tars and include a full httpd install. As they contain already an Apache httpd install you don't need to download Apache httpd. Just extract them in root, e.g.

cd / tar xvf mod-cluster-1.0.0-linux2-x86-ssl.tar.gz

That will give you a full httpd install in your /opt/jboss directory.

2.2.2. Install only the modules

If you already have a working httpd install that you would prefer to use, you'll need to download the bundle named mod_cluster httpd dynamic libraries corresponding to you plaform, extract the modules and copy them directory to your httpd install's module directory.

cd /tmp tar xvf mod_cluster-1.0.0.CR2-linux2-x86-so.tar.gz

And then you have to copy the files below to you module directory:

mod_proxy.so

Chapter 2. Quick Start Guide

mod_proxy_ajp.so mod_slotmem.so mod_manager.so mod_proxy_cluster.so mod_advertise.so

2.2.3. Install in home directory

Since 1.1.0.CR2 a script opt/jboss/httpd/sbin/installhome.sh allows reconfiguration of the bundle installation so that it can run in user's home directory. To do that just extract the bundle in your home directory and run the script. Once that done, httpd will run on port 8000 and will accept MCMP messages on localhost:6666 and offer /mod_cluster_manager on the same host and port.

2.2.4. Install in Windows

Unzip the bundle corresponding to your architecture. Change to the bin directory of the subfolder httpd-2.2 where you unzip the bundle and run the installconf.bat shell script.

cd httpd-2.2\bin installconf.bat

You may run httpd directly by using:

httpd.exe

or install Apache httpd as a service:

httpd.exe -k install

and start the service via net start or using httpd.exe:

net start Apache2.2

httpd.exe -k start

Configure httpd

Note that in the windows bundles have a flat directory structure, so you have httpd-2.2/modules/ instead of opt/jboss/httpd/lib/httpd/modules.

2.3. Configure httpd

Since 1.1.0.CR2 httpd.conf is preconfigured with the Quick Start values. You should adapt the default values to your configuration with older mod_cluster we will have to add the following to httpd.conf. If you extracted the download bundle to root as shown above and are using that extract as your httpd install, httpd.conf is located in /opt/jboss/httpd/httpd/conf.

LoadModule proxy_module /opt/jboss/httpd/lib/httpd/modules/mod_proxy.so LoadModule proxy_ajp_module /opt/jboss/httpd/lib/httpd/modules/mod_proxy_ajp.so LoadModule slotmem_module /opt/jboss/httpd/lib/httpd/modules/mod_slotmem.so LoadModule manager_module /opt/jboss/httpd/lib/httpd/modules/mod_manager.so LoadModule proxy_cluster_module /opt/jboss/httpd/lib/httpd/modules/mod_proxy_cluster.so LoadModule advertise_module /opt/jboss/httpd/lib/httpd/modules/mod_advertise.so Listen 10.33.144.3:6666 <VirtualHost 10.33.144.3:6666> <Directory /> Order deny,allow Deny from all Allow from 10.33.144. </Directory> KeepAliveTimeout 60 MaxKeepAliveRequests 0 ManagerBalancerName mycluster AdvertiseFrequency 5 </VirtualHost>

If you are using your own install of httpd, httpd.conf is found in your install's conf directory. The content to add to httpd.conf is slightly different from the above (different path to the various .so files):

LoadModule proxy_module modules/mod_proxy.so LoadModule proxy_ajp_module modules/mod_proxy_ajp.so LoadModule slotmem_module modules/mod_slotmem.so LoadModule manager_module modules/mod_manager.so LoadModule proxy_cluster_module modules/mod_proxy_cluster.so

Chapter 2. Quick Start Guide

LoadModule advertise_module modules/mod_advertise.so Listen 10.33.144.3:6666 <VirtualHost 10.33.144.3:6666> <Directory /> Order deny,allow Deny from all Allow from 10.33.144. </Directory> KeepAliveTimeout 60 MaxKeepAliveRequests 0 ManagerBalancerName mycluster AdvertiseFrequency 5 </VirtualHost>

2.4. Install the server-side binaries

First, extract the java-side binary to a temporary directory. The following assumes it was extracted to /tmp/mod-cluster Your next step depends on whether your target server is JBoss AS or JBoss Web/Tomcat.

2.4.1. Installing in JBoss AS 6.x

You don't need to do anything to install the java-side binaries in AS 6.x; it's part of the AS distribution's default, standard and all configurations.

2.4.2. Installing in JBoss AS 5.x

Assuming $JBOSS_HOME indicates the root of your JBoss AS install and that you want to use mod_cluster in the AS's all config:

cp -r /tmp/mod-cluster/mod-cluster.sar $JBOSS_HOME/server/all/deploy

2.4.3. Installing in JBoss Web or Tomcat

Assuming $CATALINA_HOME indicates the root of your JBoss Web or Tomcat install:

cp -r /tmp/mod-cluster/JBossWeb-Tomcat/lib/*

Installing in JBoss AS 4.2.x or 4.3.x

$CATALINA_HOME/lib/

2.4.4. Installing in JBoss AS 4.2.x or 4.3.x

Assuming $JBOSS_HOME indicates the root of your JBoss AS install and that you want to use mod_cluster in the AS's all config:

cp -r /tmp/mod-cluster/JBossWeb-Tomcat/lib/mod-cluster.jar $JBOSS_HOME/server/all/deploy/ jboss-web.deployer

2.5. Configuring the server-side

2.5.1. Configuring mod_cluster with JBoss AS 5.x+
No post-installation configuration necessary!

2.5.2. Configuring mod_cluster with standalone JBoss Web or Tomcat

Edit the $CATALINA_HOME/conf/server.xml file, adding the following next to the other <Listener/ > elements:

<Listener className="org.jboss.modcluster.catalina.ModClusterListener" advertise="true"/>

2.5.3. Integrate mod_cluster with JBoss AS 4.2.x and 4.3.x

Edit the $JBOSS_HOME/server/all/deploy/jboss-web.deployer/server.xml file, adding the following next to the other <Listener/> elements:

<Listener className="org.jboss.modcluster.catalina.ModClusterListener" advertise="true"/>

2.6. Start httpd

To start httpd do the following:

/opt/jboss/httpd/sbin/apachectl start

Chapter 2. Quick Start Guide

2.7. Start the back-end server

2.7.1. Starting JBoss AS
cd $JBOSS_HOME/bin ./run.sh -c all

2.7.2. Starting JBossWeb or Tomcat

cd $CATALINA_HOME ./startup.sh

2.8. Set up more back-end servers

Repeat the back-end server install and configuration steps for each server in your cluster.

2.9. Experiment with the Load Balancing Demo Application

The load balancing demo application is a good way to learn about mod_cluster's capabilities.

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Chapter 3.

httpd configuration
3.1. Apache httpd configuration
You need to load the modules that are needed for mod_cluster for example:

LoadModule proxy_module modules/mod_proxy.so LoadModule proxy_ajp_module modules/mod_proxy_ajp.so LoadModule slotmem_module modules/mod_slotmem.so LoadModule manager_module modules/mod_manager.so LoadModule proxy_cluster_module modules/mod_proxy_cluster.so LoadModule advertise_module modules/mod_advertise.so

mod_proxy and mod_proxy_ajp are standard httpd modules. mod_slotmem is a shared slotmem memory provider. mod_manager is the module that reads information from JBoss AS/JBossWeb/ Tomcat and updates the shared memory information. mod_proxy_cluster is the module that contains the balancer for mod_proxy. mod_advertise is an additional module that allows httpd to advertise via multicast packets the IP and port where the mod_cluster is listening. This multimodule architecture allows the modules to easily be changed depending on what the customer wants to do. For example when using http instead of AJP, only

LoadModule proxy_ajp_module modules/mod_proxy_ajp.so

needs to be changed to:

LoadModule proxy_http_module modules/mod_proxy_http.so

3.2. mod_proxy configuration

mod_proxy directives like ProxyIOBufferSize could be used to configure mod_cluster. There is no need to use ProxyPass directives because mod_cluster automatically configures which URLs have to be forwarded to JBossWEB.

3.3. mod_slotmem configuration

The actual version doesn't require any configuration directives.

11

Chapter 3. httpd configuration

3.4. mod_proxy_cluster
3.4.1. CreateBalancers
CreateBalancers: Define how the balancer are created in the httpd VirtualHosts, this is to allow directives like:

ProxyPass / balancer://mycluster1/

0: Create in all VirtualHosts defined in httpd. 1: Don't create balancers (requires at least one ProxyPass/ProxyPassMatch to define the balancer names). 2: Create only the main server. Default: 2 Note: When using 1 don't forget to configure the balancer in the ProxyPass directive, because the default is empty stickysession and nofailover=Off and the values received via the MCMP CONFIG message are ignored.

3.4.2. UseAlias
UseAlias: Check that the Alias corresponds to the ServerName (See Host Name Aliases [http:// labs.jboss.com/file-access/default/members/jbossweb/freezone/docs/latest/config/host.html]) 0: Don't (ignore Aliases) 1: Check it Default: 0 Ignore the Alias information from the nodes.

3.4.3. LBstatusRecalTime
LBstatusRecalTime: Time interval in seconds for loadbalancing logic to recalculate the status of a node Default: 5 seconds The actual formula to recalculate the status of a node is:

status = lbstatus + (elected - oldelected) * 1000)/lbfactor;

lbfactor is received for the node via STATUS messages.lbstatus is recalculated every LBstatusRecalTime seconds using the formula:

12

ProxyPassMatch/ProxyPass

lbstatus = (elected - oldelected) * 1000)/lbfactor;

elected is the number of time the worker was elected.oldelected is elected last time the lbstatus was recalculated.The node with the lowest status is selected. Nodes with lbfactor # 0 are skipped by the both calculation logic.

3.4.4. ProxyPassMatch/ProxyPass
ProxyPassMatch/ProxyPass: ProxyPassMatch and ProxyPass are mod_proxy directives that when using ! (instead the back-end url) prevent to reverse-proxy in the path. This could be used allow httpd to serve static information like images.

ProxyPassMatch ^(/.*\.gif)$ !

The above for example will allow httpd to server directly the .gif files.

3.5. mod_manager
The Context of a mod_manger directive is VirtualHost except mentioned otherwise. server config means that it must be outside a VirtualHost configuration. If not an error message will be displayed and httpd won't start.

3.5.1. MemManagerFile
MemManagerFile: That is the base name for the names mod_manager will use to store configuration, generate keys for shared memory or lock files. That must be an absolute path name; the directories will created if needed. It is highly recommended that those files are placed on a local drive and not an NFS share. (Context: server config) Default: $server_root/logs/

3.5.2. Maxcontext
Maxcontext: That is the number max of contexts supported by mod_cluster. (Context: server config) Default: 100

3.5.3. Maxnode
Maxnode: That is the number max nodes supported by mod_cluster. (Context: server config) Default: 20

13

Chapter 3. httpd configuration

3.5.4. Maxhost
Maxhost: That is the number max host (Aliases) supported by mod_cluster. That is also the max number of balancers. (Context: server config) Default: 10

3.5.5. Maxsessionid
Maxsessionid: That is the number of active sessionid we store to give number of active sessions in the mod_cluster-manager handler. A session is unactive when mod_cluster doesn't receive any information from the session in 5 minutes. (Context: server config) Default: 0 (the logic is not activated).

3.5.6. ManagerBalancerName
ManagerBalancerName: That is the name of balancer to use when the JBoss AS/JBossWeb/ Tomcat doesn't provide a balancer name. Default: mycluster

3.5.7. PersistSlots
PersistSlots: Tell mod_slotmem to persist the nodes, Alias and Context in files. (Context: server config) Default: Off

3.5.8. CheckNonce
CheckNonce: Switch check of nonce when using mod_cluster-manager handler on | off Since 1.1.0.CR1 Default: on Nonce checked

3.5.9. AllowDisplay
AllowDisplay: Switch additional display on mod_cluster-manager main page on | off Since 1.1.0.GA Default: off Only version displayed

3.5.10. AllowCmd
AllowCmd: Allow commands using mod_cluster-manager URL on | off Since 1.1.0.GA

14

ReduceDisplay

Default: on Commmands allowed

3.5.11. ReduceDisplay
ReduceDisplay - Reduce the information the main mod_cluster-manager page to allow more nodes in the page. on | off Default: off Full information displayed

3.5.12. SetHandler mod_cluster-manager

SetHandler mod_cluster-manager: That is the handler to display the node mod_cluster sees from the cluster. It displays the information about the nodes like INFO and additionaly counts the number of active sessions.

<Location /mod_cluster-manager> SetHandler mod_cluster-manager Order deny,allow Deny from all Allow from 127.0.0.1 </Location>

When accessing the location you define in httpd.conf you get something like:

15

Chapter 3. httpd configuration

Note that: Transferred: Corresponds to the POST data send to the back-end server. Connected: Corresponds to the number of requests been processed when the mod_cluster status page was requested. sessions: Corresponds to the number of sessions mod_cluster report as active (on which there was a request during the past 5 minutes). That field is not present when Maxsessionid is zero.

16

mod_advertise

3.6. mod_advertise
mod_advertise uses multicast packets to advertise the VirtualHost where it is configured that must be the same VirtualHost where mod_manager is defined. Of course at least one mod_advertise must be in the VirtualHost to allow mod_cluster to find the right IP and port to give to the ClusterListener.

3.6.1. ServerAdvertise
ServerAdvertise On: Use the advertise mechanism to tell the JBoss AS/JBossWeb/Tomcat to whom it should send the cluster information. ServerAdvertise On http://hostname:port: Tell the hostname and port to use. Only needed if the VirtualHost is not defined correctly, if the VirtualHost is a Name-based Virtual Host [http:// httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/vhosts/name-based.html] or when VirtualHost is not used. ServerAdvertise Off: Don't use the advertise mechanism. Default: Off. (Any Advertise directive in a VirtualHost sets it to On in the VirtualHost)

3.6.2. AdvertiseGroup
AdvertiseGroup IP:port: That is the multicast address to use (something like 232.0.0.2:8888 for example). IP should correspond to AdvertiseGroupAddress and port to AdvertisePort in the JBoss AS/JBossWeb/Tomcat configuration. Note that if JBoss AS is used and the -u startup switch is included in the AS startup command, the default AdvertiseGroupAddress is the value passed via the -u. If port is missing the default port will be used: 23364. Default: 224.0.1.105:23364.

3.6.3. AdvertiseFrequency
AdvertiseFrequency seconds[.miliseconds]: Time between the multicast messages advertising the IP and port. Default: 10 Ten seconds.

3.6.4. AdvertiseSecurityKey
AdvertiseSecurityKey value: key string to identify the mod_cluster in JBossWEB. Default: No default value. Information not sent.

3.6.5. AdvertiseManagerUrl
AdvertiseManagerUrl value: Not used in this version (It is sent in the X-Manager-Url: value header). That is the URL that JBoss AS/JBossWeb/Tomcat should use to send information to mod_cluster

17

Chapter 3. httpd configuration

Default: No default value. Information not sent.

3.6.6. AdvertiseBindAddress
AdvertiseBindAddress IP:port: That is the address and port httpd is bind to send the multicast messages. This allow to specify an address on multi IP address boxes. Default: 0.0.0.0:23364

3.7. Minimal Example

LoadModule proxy_module modules/mod_proxy.so LoadModule proxy_ajp_module modules/mod_proxy_ajp.so LoadModule slotmem_module modules/mod_slotmem.so LoadModule manager_module modules/mod_manager.so LoadModule proxy_cluster_module modules/mod_proxy_cluster.so LoadModule advertise_module modules/mod_advertise.so Listen 10.33.144.3:6666 <VirtualHost 10.33.144.3:6666> <Location /> Order deny,allow Deny from all Allow from 10.33.144. </Location> KeepAliveTimeout 60 MaxKeepAliveRequests 0 ManagerBalancerName mycluster ServerAdvertise On </VirtualHost>

18

Chapter 4.

Building httpd modules

4.1. Build a patched httpd from it sources
To build httpd-2.2.x from its sources see ASF httpd doc [http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/ install.html] If needed, patch the httpd-2.2.x sources with (The patch prevents long waiting time when the node IP can't be resolved that should not happen so you can skip the patch part if you don't want to rebuild httpd). mod_proxy_ajp.patch [http://anonsvn.jboss.org/repos/mod_cluster/trunk/native/ mod_proxy_cluster/mod_proxy_ajp.patch]

(cd modules/proxy patch -p0 < $location/mod_proxy_ajp.patch )

Configure httpd with something like:

./configure --prefix=apache_installation_directory \ --with-mpm=worker \ --enable-mods-shared=most \ --enable-maintainer-mode \ --with-expat=builtin \ --enable-ssl \ --enable-proxy \ --enable-proxy-http \ --enable-proxy-ajp \ --disable-proxy-balancer

Rebuild (make) and reinstall (make install) after that.

4.2. Build the 4 modules of mod_cluster

You need an httpd installation with mod_proxy (--enable-proxy) and ajp protocol (--enable-proxyajp) enabled and with dso enabled (--enable-so) Download the mod_cluster sources:

svn co http://anonsvn.jboss.org/repos/mod_cluster/trunk/ mod_cluster

19

Chapter 4. Building httpd modules

Build the mod_cluster modules components, for each subdirectory advertise, mod_manager, mod_proxy_cluster and mod_slotmem do something like:

sh buildconf ./configure --with-apxs=apxs_file_location make cp *.so apache_installation_directory/modules

Where apache_installation_directory is the location of an installed version of httpd-2-2.x. NOTE: You can ignore the libtool message on most platform:

libtool: install: warning: remember to run `libtool --finish apache_installation_directory/modules'

Once that is done use Apache httpd configuration to configure mod_cluster.

4.3. Build the mod_proxy module

It is only needed for httpd-2.2.x where x < 11. Process like the other mod_cluster modules.

20

Chapter 5.

Installing httpd modules

Several bundles are available at http://www.jboss.org/mod_cluster/downloads.html. In case you can't find a prepared package of mod_cluser in the download area, it is possible to build mod_cluster for the sources. You need a distribution of httpd (at least 2.2.8) or (better) a source tarball of httpd and the sources of mod_cluster. Building explains how to build mod_cluster for it sources.

5.1. Configuration
A minimal configuration is needed in httpd (See httpd.conf). A listener must be a added in in JBossWEB conf/server.xml (See Configuring JBoss AS/Web).

5.2. Installing and using the bundles

The bundles are tar.gz on POSIX platforms just extract them in root something like:

cd / tar xvf mod-cluster-1.0.0-linux2-x86-ssl.tar.gz

The httpd.conf is located in /opt/jboss/httpd/httpd/conf to quick test just add something like:

Listen 10.33.144.3:6666 <VirtualHost 10.33.144.3:6666> <Directory /> Order deny,allow Deny from all Allow from 10.33.144. </Directory> KeepAliveTimeout 60 MaxKeepAliveRequests 0 ManagerBalancerName mycluster AdvertiseFrequency 5 </VirtualHost>

To start httpd do the following:

21

Chapter 5. Installing httpd m...

/opt/jboss/httpd/sbin/apachectl start

NOTE: Make sure to use SSL before going in production.

22

Chapter 6.

Server-side Configuration
6.1. JBoss AS
mod_cluster is supported in AS7 via the modcluster subsystem See AS7. In other AS version mod_cluster's configuration resides within the following file:
$JBOSS_HOME/server/$PROFILE/deploy/mod_cluster.sar/META-INF/mod_cluster-jbossbeans.xml file.

The entry point for mod_cluster's server-side configuration is the ModClusterListener bean, which delegates web container (i.e. JBoss Web) specific events to a container agnostic event handler. In general, the ModClusterListener bean defines:

1. A ContainerEventHandler in which to handle events from the web container. There are two available implementations, the choice of which dictates the mode in which mod_cluster will operate: clustered or non-clustered. 2. A reference to the JBoss mbean server. e.g.

<bean name="ModClusterListener" class="org.jboss.modcluster.catalina.CatalinaEventHandlerAdapter"> <constructor> <parameter class="org.jboss.modcluster.ContainerEventHandler"> <inject bean="ModClusterService"/><!-- Non-clustered mode --> <!--inject bean="HAModClusterService"/--><!-- Clustered mode --> </parameter> <parameter class="javax.management.MBeanServer"> <inject bean="JMXKernel" property="mbeanServer"/> </parameter> </constructor> </bean>

6.1.1. Non-clustered mode

In non-clustered mode, each JBoss AS node communicates with the load balancer directly, and do not communicate with each other. Non-clustered mode is configured via the ModClusterService bean.

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Chapter 6. Server-side Config...

In general, the ModClusterService bean defines: 1. An object containing mod_cluster's configuration properties. 2. An object responsible for calculating the load balance factor for this node. This is described in detail in the chapter entitled Server-Side Load Metrics. e.g.

<bean name="ModClusterService" class="org.jboss.modcluster.ModClusterService" mode="On Demand">

annotation> <constructor> <parameter class="org.jboss.modcluster.config.ModClusterConfig"> <inject bean="ModClusterConfig"/> </parameter> <parameter class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.LoadBalanceFactorProvider"> <inject bean="DynamicLoadBalanceFactorProvider"/> </parameter> </constructor> </bean>

6.1.2. Clustered mode

In clustered mode, a single JBoss node (the HA singleton master) communicates with the load balancer on behalf of the other nodes in the cluster. Clustered mode is configured via the HAModClusterService bean. This mode offers the following advantages over non-clustered mode: 1. The state of the load balancer will be kept in sync on each node in the cluster. 2. mod_cluster will proactively notify the load balancer of view changes (i.e. crashed members), allowing the load balancer to gracefully reconfigure itself thus avoiding costly failover processing. 3. Clustered-mode allows load balancing group management, adding the ability to enable, disable, or gracefully stop all nodes sharing the same load balancing group. Once a given session is associated with a specific node, subsequent requests for the same session will always prefer to be routed to a node with the same load balancing group. Grouping nodes in this way is useful for limiting the number of nodes to which a given session must replicate to support high-availability. When used in conjunction with sessions affinity, a load balancing group effectively narrows the set of preferred failover nodes to members of the same load balancing group. A load balancing group is conceptually similar to a domain in mod_jk.

24

Configuration Properties

In general, HAModClusterService defines: 1. An object containing mod_cluster's configuration properties. 2. An object responsible for calculating the load balance factor for this node. This is described in detail in the chapter entitled Server-Side Load Metrics. 3. An HAPartition, the JBoss clustering group communication building block. The default HAPartition is defined in: $JBOSS_HOME/server/$PROFILE/deploy/cluster/hapartitionjboss-beans.xml

4. A policy for determining which group member should be designated as the singleton master. e.g.

<bean name="HAModClusterService" class="org.jboss.modcluster.ha.HAModClusterService" mode="On Demand">

annotation> <constructor> <parameter class="org.jboss.modcluster.config.ha.HAModClusterConfig"> <inject bean="ModClusterConfig"/> </parameter> <parameter class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.LoadBalanceFactorProvider"> <inject bean="DynamicLoadBalanceFactorProvider"/> </parameter> <parameter class="org.jboss.ha.framework.interfaces.HAPartition"> <inject bean="HAPartition"/> </parameter> <parameter class="org.jboss.ha.framework.interfaces.HASingletonElectionPolicy"> <bean class="org.jboss.ha.singleton.HASingletonElectionPolicySimple"/> </parameter> </constructor> </bean>

6.1.3. Configuration Properties

The ModClusterConfig bean enumerates the configuration properties used by mod_cluster. For the complete list of configuration properties and their default values, see the chapter entitled Server-side Configuration Properties. e.g.

25

Chapter 6. Server-side Config...

<bean name="ModClusterConfig" class="org.jboss.modcluster.config.ha.HAModClusterConfig" mode="On Demand"> <!-- Specify configuration properties here --> </bean>

6.1.4. Connectors
Like mod_jk and mod_proxy_balancer, mod_cluster requires a connector in your server.xml to which to forward web requests. Unlike mod_jk and mod_proxy_balancer, mod_cluster is not confined to AJP, but can use HTTP as well. While AJP is generally faster, an HTTP connector can optionally be secured via SSL. If multiple possible connectors are defined in your server.xml, mod_cluster uses the following algorithm to choose between them:

1. If an native (APR) AJP connector is available, use it. 2. If an AJP connector is available, use it. 3. Otherwise, choose the HTTP connector with the highest max threads.

6.1.5. Node Identity

Like mod_jk and mod_proxy_balancer, mod_cluster identifies each node via a unique jvm route [http://docs.jboss.org/jbossweb/2.1.x/config/engine.html]. By default, mod_cluster uses the following algorithm to assign the jvm route for a given node:

1. Use the value from server.xml, <Engine jvmRoute="..."/>, if defined. 2. Generate a jvm route using the configured ???. The default implementation does the following: a. Use the value of the jboss.mod_cluster.jvmRoute system property, if defined. b. Generate a UUID. While UUIDs are ideal for production systems, in a development or testing environment, it is useful to know which node served a given request just by looking at the jvm route. In this case, you can utilize the org.jboss.modcluster.SimpleJvmRouteFactory. The factory generates jvm routes of the form: bind-address:port:engine-name

6.2. JBoss Web & Tomcat

mod_cluster's entire configuration for JBoss Web or Tomcat resides entirely within $CATALINA_HOME/conf/server.xml. This limits the adds the following constraints to mod_cluster's feature set:

26

Lifecycle Listener

Only non-clustered mode is supported Only one load metric can be used to calculate a load factor.

6.2.1. Lifecycle Listener

The entry point for JBoss Web and Tomcat configuration is the ModClusterListener. All mod_cluster configuration properties are defined as attributes of the <Listener/> element. For the complete list of configuration properties and their default values, see the chapter entitled Server-side Configuration Properties. e.g.

<Listener className="org.jboss.modcluster.catalina.ModClusterListener" advertise="true"/>

6.2.2. Additional Tomcat dependencies

mod_cluster uses jboss-logging, which exists in JBoss Web, but not in Tomcat. Consequently, to use mod_cluster with Tomcat, it is necessary to add jboss-logging-spi.jar [http:/ /repository.jboss.org/nexus/content/groups/public-jboss/org/jboss/logging/jboss-logging-spi/] to $CATALINA_HOME/lib.

6.3. Migrating from 1.0.x

In mod_cluster 1.0.x, you were required to make several manual configuration changes to the jbossweb service before mod_cluster would be usable. mod_cluster 1.1.x eliminates much of this hassle - and is designed to be fully functional out of the box.

6.3.1. Dependency with JBoss Web

In 1.0.x, mod_cluster needed to be deployed before JBoss Web. This ensured that mod_cluster was available to handle web application deployment lifecycle events during triggered during server startup. To achieve this, you had to add an explicit dependency on mod_cluster to jbossweb's jboss-beans.xml config file. mod_cluster 1.1.x reverses this dependency, such that mod_cluster now depends on JBoss Web. Consequently, you no longer need to make any changes to JBoss Web's jboss-beans.xml file. As an additional consequence of this dependency reversal, mod_cluster can now be hot-deployed or undeployed to a running server without consequence to the JBoss Web service.

6.3.2. server.xml
6.3.2.1. Lifecycle listener
mod_cluster 1.0.x required you to add a lifecycle <Listener/> element to server.xml.

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Chapter 6. Server-side Config...

6.3.2.1.1. JBoss AS
The ModClusterListener bean now registers itself with the JBoss Web server upon deploying the mod_cluster service; and deregisters itself upon undeploy. Consequently, you no longer need to manually add a <Listener/> to server.xml.

6.3.2.1.2. JBoss Web & Tomcat

You still need to use a lifecycle <Listener/> element in server.xml, but it's location has changed. In 1.1.x, the ModClusterListener class was refactored into the catalina container SPI implementation package, and the old location was deprecated.

6.3.2.2. JVM Route

In mod_cluster 1.0.x, you needed to add a unique jvmRoute to the <Engine/> element within server.xml. In 1.1.x, this is now optional. The auto-assignment of a jvm route is described in the previous section.

6.3.2.3. Connector bind address

In mod_cluster 1.0.x, you had the option of manually setting the connector bind address, to restrict the network interface on which mod_cluster would listen for proxied requests from the load balancer. In mod_cluster 1.1.x, this no longer necessary. mod_cluster will set the bind address automatically, based on the interface on which mod_cluster's internal connection was established.

6.3.3. mod_cluster-jboss-beans.xml
The JBoss microcontainer configuration for mod_cluster 1.0.x is *not* compatible with the configuration for 1.1.x. If you had customized your mod_cluster 1.0.x configuration, please start with the default configuration contained in the 1.1.x mod_cluster.sar and reapply any changes.

6.3.3.1. Configuration changes

The following configuration properties were renamed between 1.0.x and 1.1.x: Deprecated property name domain masterPerDomain sslKeyStorePass Replacement property name loadBalancingGroup masterPerLoadBalancingGroup sslKeyStorePassword

28

Chapter 7.

AS7 modcluster subsystem Configuration

7.1. ModCluster Subsystem in JBoss AS7
The mod_cluster integration is done via the modcluster subsystem. In AS7 only 1.1.x is supported. Addition HA is not supported in AS version 7.0.x but in it will be in version 7.1.x and after.

7.2. ModCluster Subsystem minimal configuration

The minimal configuration is having the modcluster schemaLocation in the schemaLocation list:

urn:jboss:domain:modcluster:1.0 jboss-mod-cluster.xsd

and the extension module in the extensions list:

<extension module="org.jboss.as.modcluster"/>

and subsystem declaration like:

<subsystem xmlns="urn:jboss:domain:modcluster:1.0"/>

With that configuration modcluster will listen for advertise on 224.0.1.105:23364 use the simple-load-provider with a load factor of 1.

7.3. ModCluster Subsystem configuration

7.3.1. mod-cluster-config Attributes
The attributs correspond to the properties Attribute proxy-list proxy-url advertise advertise-security-key excluded-contexts Property proxyList proxyURL advertise advertiseSecurityKey excludedContexts Default None None true None None

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Chapter 7. AS7 modcluster sub...

Attribute auto-enable-contexts stop-context-timeout socket-timeout

Property autoEnableContexts stopContextTimeout nodeTimeout

Default true 10 seconds (in seconds) 20 seconds (in milli seconds)

SSL configuration part needs to be added here too

7.3.2. simple-load-provider Attributes

The simple load provider always send the same load factor. That is the default one. Example:

<subsystem xmlns="urn:jboss:domain:modcluster:1.0"> <mod-cluster-config> <simple-load-provider load="1"/> </mod-cluster-config> </subsystem>

Attribute factor

Property LoadBalancerFactor

Default 1

7.3.3. dynamic-load-provider Attributes

The dynamic load provide allows to have load-metric as well as custom-load-metric defined. For example:

<subsystem xmlns="urn:jboss:domain:modcluster:1.0"> <mod-cluster-config advertise-socket="mod_cluster"> <dynamic-load-provider history="10" decay="2"> <load-metric type="cpu" weight="2" capacity="1"/> <load-metric type="sessions" weight="1" capacity="512"/> <custom-load-metric class="mypackage.myclass" weight="1" capacity="512"> <property name="myproperty" value="myvalue" /> <property name="otherproperty" value="othervalue" /> </custom-load-metric> </dynamic-load-provider> </mod-cluster-config> </subsystem>

30

load-metric Configuration

Attribute history decay

Property history decayFactor

Default 512 512

7.3.4. load-metric Configuration

The load-metric are the "classes" collecting information to allow computation of the load factor sent to httpd Attribute type weight capacity Property A Server-Side Load Metrics weight capacity Default Mandatory 9 512

7.3.4.1. Supported load metric types

type cpu mem heap sessions requests send-traffic receive-traffic busyness connection-pool Corresponding Server-Side Load Metric AverageSystemLoadMetric SystemMemoryUsageLoadMetric HeapMemoryUsageLoadMetric ActiveSessionsLoadMetric ActiveSessionsLoadMetric SendTrafficLoadMetric ReceiveTrafficLoadMetric BusyConnectorsLoadMetric ConnectionPoolUsageLoadMetric

7.3.5. custom-load-metric Configuration

The custom-load-metric are for user defined "classes" collecting information. They are like the load-metric except type is replaced by class: Attribute class Property Name of your class Default Mandatory

31

32

Chapter 8.

Building Server-Side Components

8.1. Requirements
Building mod_cluster's server-side components from source requires the following tools: JDK 5.0+ Maven 2.0+

8.2. Building
Steps to build: 1. Download the mod_cluster sources

svn co http://anonsvn.jboss.org/repos/mod_cluster/trunk/ mod_cluster

2. Use maven "dist" profile to build:

cd mod_cluster mvn -P dist package

Note
Some unit tests require UDP port 23365. Make sure your local firewall allows the port.

8.3. Build Artifacts

The build produces the following output in the target directory: mod-cluster.sar Exploded format sar to copy to the deploy dir in your JBoss AS install JBossWeb-Tomcat/lib directory Jar files to copy to the lib directory in your JBossWeb or Tomcat install to support use of mod_cluster demo directory The load balancing demo application

33

Chapter 8. Building Server-Si...

mod-cluster-XXX.tar.gz The full distribution tarball; includes the above elements

34

Chapter 9.

Server-side Configuration Properties

The tables below enumerate the configuration properties available to an application server node. The location for these properties depends on how mod_cluster is configured.

9.1. Proxy Discovery Configuration

The list of proxies from which an application expects to receive AJP connections is either defined statically, via the addresses defined in the proxyList configuration property; or discovered dynamically via the advertise mechanism. Using a special mod_advertise module, proxies can advertise their existence by periodically broadcasting a multicast message containing its address/ port. This functionality is enabled via the advertise configuration property. If configured to listen, a server can learn of the proxy's existence, then notify that proxy of its own existence, and update its configuration accordingly. This frees both the proxy and the server from having to define static, environment-specific configuration values. Attribute proxyList Default None Scope Configuration Description Defines a comma delimited list of httpd proxies with which this node will initially communicate. Value should be of the form: address1:port1,address2:port2 Using the default configuration, this property can by jboss.mod_cluster.proxyList the via manipulated system property. excludedContexts ROOT, admin- Configuration console, invoker, bossws, jmx-console, juddi, web-console List of contexts to exclude from httpd registration, of the form:

host1:context1,host2:context2,host3:conte If no host is indicated, it is assumed to be the default host of the server (e.g. localhost). "ROOT" indicates the root context. Using the

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Chapter 9. Server-side Config...

Attribute

Default

Scope

Description default configuration, this property can by manipulated via the jboss.mod_cluster.excludedContexts system property.

autoEnableContexts

true

Configuration

If false the contexts are registered disabled in httpd, they need to be enabled via the enable() mbean method or via mod_cluster_manager. The amount of time, measure in units specified by stopContextTimeoutUnit, for which to wait for clean shutdown of a context (completion of pending requests for a distributable context; or destruction/ expiration of active sessions for a nondistributable context). The unit of time for use with stopContextTimeout

stopContextTimeout

10

Configuration

stopContextTimeoutUnitTimeUnit.SECONDS

Configuration

sessionDrainingStrategy org.jboss.modcluster.SessionDrainingStrategyEnum.DEFAULT Configuration Indicates the session draining strategy used during undeployment of a web application. There are three possible values:

DEFAULT Drain sessions before web application undeploy only

36

Proxy Discovery Configuration

Attribute

Default

Scope

Description if the web application is nondisributable. ALWAYS Always drain sessions before web application undeploy, even for distributable web applications. NEVER Do not drain sessions before web application undeploy, even for nondistributable web application.

proxyURL

None

Apache HTTPD

If defined, this value will be prepended to the URL of MCMP commands. Number of milliseconds to wait for a response from an httpd proxy to MCMP commands before timing out, and flagging the proxy as in error. If enabled, httpd proxies will be autodiscovered via multicast announcements. This can be used either in concert or in place of a static proxyList. UDP address on which to listen for

socketTimeout

20000

Configuration

advertise

true, if proxyList Configuration is undefined, false otherwise

advertiseGroupAddress 224.0.1.105

Apache HTTPD

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Chapter 9. Server-side Config...

Attribute

Default

Scope

Description httpd proxy multicast advertisements

advertisePort

23364

Apache HTTPD

UDP port on which to listen for httpd proxy multicast advertisements If specified, httpd proxy advertisements checksums will be verified using this value as a salt The thread factory used to create the background advertisement listener. Defines the strategy for determing the jvm route of a node, if none was specified in server.xml. The default factory first consults the
jboss.mod_cluster.jvmRoute

advertiseSecurityKey

None

Apache HTTPD

advertiseThreadFactoryExecutors.defaultThreadFactory() Configuration

jvmRouteFactory

new Configuration SystemPropertyJvmRouteFactory(new UUIDJvmRouteFactory(), "jboss.mod_cluster.jvmRoute")

system property. If this system property is undefined, the jvm route is assiged a UUID.

9.2. Proxy Configuration

The following configuration values are sent to proxies during server startup, when a proxy is detected via the advertise mechanism, or during the resetting of a proxy's configuration during error recovery.

Attribute stickySession

Default true

Scope Balancer

Description Indicates whether subsequent requests for a given session should be routed to

38

Proxy Configuration

Attribute

Default

Scope

Description the same node, if possible.

stickySessionRemove false

Balancer

Indicates whether the httpd proxy should remove session stickiness in the event that the balancer is unable to route a request to the node to which it is stuck. This property is ignored if stickySession is false. Indicates whether the httpd proxy should return an error in the event that the balancer is unable to route a request to the node to which it is stuck. This property is ignored if stickySession is false. Number of seconds to wait for a worker to become available to handle a request. When all the workers of a balancer are usable, mod_cluster will retry after a while (workerTimeout/ 100) to find an usable worker. That is timeout in the balancer mod_proxy documentation. A value of -1 indicates that the httpd will not wait for a worker to be available and will return an error if none is available.

stickySessionForce

true

Balancer

workerTimeout

-1

Balancer

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Chapter 9. Server-side Config...

Attribute maxAttempts

Default 1

Scope Balancer

Description Number of times an httpd proxy will attempt to send a given request to a worker before giving up. The minimum value is 1, meaning try only once. (Note that mod_proxy default is also 1: no retry).

flushPackets flushWait

false -1

Node Node

Enables/disables packet flushing Time to wait before flushing packets. A value of -1 means wait forever. Time (in seconds) in which to wait for a pong answer to a ping Soft maximum idle connection count (that is the smax in worker mod_proxy documentation). The maximum value depends on the httpd thread configuration (ThreadsPerChild or 1). Time to seconds) connections smax live (in for idle above

ping

10

Node

smax

Determined by httpd Node configuration

ttl

60

Node

nodeTimeout

-1

Node

Timeout (in seconds) for proxy connections to a node. That is the time mod_cluster will wait for the back-end response before returning error. That corresponds to

40

SSL Configuration

Attribute

Default

Scope

Description timeout in the worker mod_proxy documentation. A value of -1 indicates no timeout. Note that mod_cluster always uses a cping/cpong before forwarding a request and the connectiontimeout value used by mod_cluster is the ping value.

balancer loadBalancingGroup

mycluster None

Node Node

The balancer name If specified, load will be balanced among jvmRoutes withing the same load balancing group. A loadBalancingGroup is conceptually equivalent to a mod_jk domain directive. This is primarily used in conjunction with partitioned session replication (e.g. buddy replication).

Note
When nodeTimeout is not defined the ProxyTimeout directive Proxy is used. If ProxyTimeout is not defined the server timeout (Timeout) is used (default 300 seconds). nodeTimeout, ProxyTimeout or Timeout is set at the socket level.

9.3. SSL Configuration

The communication channel between application servers and httpd proxies uses HTTP by default. This channel can be secured using HTTPS by setting the ssl property to true.

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Chapter 9. Server-side Config...

Note
This HTTP/HTTPS channel should not be confused with the processing of HTTP/ HTTPS client requests.

Attribute ssl sslCiphers

Default false

Description Should connection to proxy use a secure socket layer

The default JSSE cipher suites Overrides the cipher suites used to init an SSL socket ignoring any unsupported ciphers TLS Overrides the default SSL socket protocol. key The algorithm of the key manager factory containing client certificates The password granting access to the key store The type of key store

sslProtocol

sslCertificateEncodingAlgorithmThe default JSSE manager algorithm sslKeyStore sslKeyStorePassword sslKeyStoreType sslKeyStoreProvider sslTrustAlgorithm sslKeyAlias

System.getProperty("user.home") The location of the key store + "/.keystore"

changeit JKS

The default JSSE security The key store provider provider The default JSSE manager algorithm trust The algorithm of the trust manager factory The alias of the key holding the client certificates in the key store Certificate revocation list 5 The maximum length of a certificate held in the trust store containing the trust store

sslCrlFile sslTrustMaxCertLength

sslTrustStore sslTrustStorePassword sslTrustStoreType sslTrustStoreProvider

System.getProperty("javax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword") The location of the file

System.getProperty("javax.net.ssl.trustStore") The password granting access

to the trust store.

System.getProperty("javax.net.ssl.trustStoreType") The trust store type System.getProperty("javax.net.ssl.trustStoreProvider") The trust store provider

42

HA Configuration

9.4. HA Configuration
Additional configuration properties when mod_cluster is configured in clustered mode. Attribute Default Description If the loadBalancingGroup directive is used, should HA partition use a singleton master loadBalancingGroup. per

masterPerLoadBalancingGroup false

9.5. Load Configuration for JBoss Web and Tomcat

Additional configuration properties used when mod_cluster is configured in JBoss Web standalone or Tomcat. Attribute loadMetricClass Default Description

org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.impl.BusyConnectorsLoadMetric Class name of an object implementing org.jboss.load.metric.LoadMetric 1 The capacity of the load metric defined via the loadMetricClass property The number of historic load values to consider in the load balance factor computation. The factor by which a historic load values should degrade in significance.

loadMetricCapacity

loadHistory

loadDecayFactor

43

44

Chapter 10.

Server-Side Load Metrics

A major feature of mod_cluster is the ability to use server-side load metrics to determine how best to balance requests. The DynamicLoadBalanceFactorProvider bean computes the load balance factor of a node from a defined set of load metrics.

<bean name="DynamicLoadBalanceFactorProvider" class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.impl.DynamicLoadBalanceFa

ceFactorProviderMBean.class)</ annotation> <constructor> <parameter> <set elementClass="org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.LoadMetric"> <inject bean="BusyConnectorsLoadMetric"/> <inject bean="HeapMemoryUsageLoadMetric"/> </set> </parameter> </constructor> <property name="history">9</property> <property name="decayFactor">2</property> </bean>

Load metrics can be configured with an associated weight and capacity. The weight (default is 1) indicates the significance of a metric with respect to the other metrics. For example, a metric of weight 2 will have twice the impact on the overall load factor than a metric of weight 1. The capacity of a metric serves 2 functions: To normalize the load values from each metric. In some load metrics, capacity is already reflected in the load values. The capacity of a metric should be configured such that 0 <= (load / capacity) >= 1. To favor some nodes over others. By setting the metric capacities to different values on each node, proxies will effectively favor nodes with higher capacities, since they will return smaller load values. This adds an interesting level of granularity to node weighting. Consider a cluster of two nodes, one with more memory, and a second with a faster CPU; and two metrics, one memory-based and the other CPU-based. In the memory-based metric, the first node would be given a higher load capacity than the second node. In a CPU-based metric, the second node would be given a higher load capacity than the first node.

45

Chapter 10. Server-Side Load ...

Each load metric contributes a value to the overall load factor of a node. The load factors from each metric are aggregated according to their weights. In general, the load factor contribution of given metric is: (load / capacity) * weight / total weight. The DynamicLoadBalanceFactorProvider applies a time decay function to the loads returned by each metric. The aggregate load, with respect to previous load values, can be expressed by the following formula: L = (L0 + L1/D + L2/D + L3/D + ... + LH/D ) * (1 + D + D + D + ... D ) ... or more concisely as: L = (#
H i=0 2 3 H 2 3 H

Li/D ) * (#

H i=0

D)

... where D = decayFactor, and H = history. Setting history = 0 effectively disables the time decay function and only the current load for each metric will be considered in the load balance factor computation. The mod_cluster load balancer expects the load factor to be an integer between 0 and 100, where 0 indicates max load and 100 indicates zero load. Therefore, the final load factor sent to the load balancer LFinal = 100 - (L * 100) While you are free to write your own load metrics, the following LoadMetrics are available out of the box:

10.1. Web Container metrics

10.1.1. ActiveSessionsLoadMetric
Requires an explicit capacity Uses SessionLoadMetricSource to query session managers Analogous to method=S in mod_jk e.g.

<bean name="ActiveSessionsLoadMetric" class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.impl.ActiveSessionsLoadMetric"

class)</ annotation> <constructor> <parameter><inject bean="SessionLoadMetricSource"/></parameter>

46

BusyConnectorsLoadMetric

</constructor> <property name="capacity">1000</property> </bean> <bean name="SessionLoadMetricSource" class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.impl.SessionLoadMetricSource" <constructor> <parameter class="javax.management.MBeanServer"> <inject bean="JMXKernel" property="mbeanServer"/> </parameter> </constructor> </bean>

10.1.2. BusyConnectorsLoadMetric
Returns the percentage of connector threads from the thread pool that are busy servicing requests Uses ThreadPoolLoadMetricSource to query connector thread Analogous to method=B in mod_jk e.g.

<bean name="BusyConnectorsLoadMetric" class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.impl.BusyConnectorsLoadMetr

.class)</

annotation> <constructor> <parameter><inject bean="ThreadPoolLoadMetricSource"/></parameter> </constructor> </bean> <bean name="ThreadPoolLoadMetricSource" class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.impl.ThreadPoolLoadMetricS <constructor> <parameter class="javax.management.MBeanServer"> <inject bean="JMXKernel" property="mbeanServer"/> </parameter> </constructor> </bean>

10.1.3. ReceiveTrafficLoadMetric
Returns the incoming request POST traffic in KB/sec (the application needs to read POST data) Requires an explicit capacity

47

Chapter 10. Server-Side Load ...

Uses RequestProcessorLoadMetricSource to query request processors Analogous to method=T in mod_jk e.g.

<bean name="ReceiveTrafficLoadMetric" class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.impl.ReceiveTrafficLoadMetric" m

ass)</ annotation> <constructor>

<parameter class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.impl.RequestProcessorLoadMetricSource"> <inject bean="RequestProcessorLoadMetricSource"/> </parameter> </constructor> <property name="capacity">1024</property> </bean> <bean name="RequestProcessorLoadMetricSource" class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.impl.RequestProcesso <constructor> <parameter class="javax.management.MBeanServer"> <inject bean="JMXKernel" property="mbeanServer"/> </parameter> </constructor> </bean>

10.1.4. SendTrafficLoadMetric
Returns the outgoing request traffic in KB/sec Requires an explicit capacity Uses RequestProcessorLoadMetricSource to query request processors Analogous to method=T in mod_jk

<bean name="SendTrafficLoadMetric" class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.impl.SendTrafficLoadMetric" mode="

s)</ annotation> <constructor> <parameter class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.impl.RequestProcessorLoadMetricSource"> <inject bean="RequestProcessorLoadMetricSource"/>

48

RequestCountLoadMetric

</parameter> </constructor> <property name="capacity">512</property> </bean>

10.1.5. RequestCountLoadMetric
Returns the number of requests/sec Requires an explicit capacity Uses RequestProcessorLoadMetricSource to query request processors Analogous to method=R in mod_jk e.g.

<bean name="RequestCountLoadMetric" class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.impl.RequestCountLoadMetric" m

ass)</ annotation> <constructor> <parameter class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.impl.RequestProcessorLoadMetricSource"> <inject bean="RequestProcessorLoadMetricSource"/> </parameter> </constructor> <property name="capacity">1000</property> </bean>

10.2. System/JVM metrics

10.2.1. AverageSystemLoadMetric
Returns CPU load Requires Java 1.6+ Uses OperatingSystemLoadMetricSource to generically read attributes e.g.

<bean name="AverageSystemLoadMetric" class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.impl.AverageSystemLoadMetric

49

Chapter 10. Server-Side Load ...

class)</

annotation> <constructor> <parameter><inject bean="OperatingSystemLoadMetricSource"/></parameter> </constructor> </bean> <bean name="OperatingSystemLoadMetricSource" class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.impl.OperatingSystemL </bean>

10.2.2. SystemMemoryUsageLoadMetric
Returns system memory usage Requires com.sun.management.OperatingSystemMXBean (available in Sun's JDK or OpenJDK) Uses OperatingSystemLoadMetricSource to generically read attributes e.g.

<bean name="SystemMemoryUsageLoadMetric" class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.impl.SystemMemoryUsag

MBean.class)</ annotation> <constructor> <parameter><inject bean="OperatingSystemLoadMetricSource"/></parameter> </constructor> </bean>

10.2.3. HeapMemoryUsageLoadMetric
Returns the heap memory usage as a percentage of max heap size e.g.

<bean name="HeapMemoryUsageLoadMetric" class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.impl.HeapMemoryUsageLo

ean.class)</ annotation> </bean>

50

Other metrics

10.3. Other metrics

10.3.1. ConnectionPoolUsageLoadMetric
Returns the percentage of connections from a connection pool that are in use Uses ConnectionPoolLoadMetricSource to query JCA connection pools e.g.

<bean name="ConnectionPoolUsageMetric" class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.impl.ConnectionPoolUsageLoa

MBean.class)</

annotation> <constructor> <parameter><inject bean="ConnectionPoolLoadMetricSource"/></parameter> </constructor> </bean> <bean name="ConnectionPoolLoadMetricSource" class="org.jboss.modcluster.load.metric.impl.ConnectionPoolLoa <constructor> <parameter class="javax.management.MBeanServer"> <inject bean="JMXKernel" property="mbeanServer"/> </parameter> </constructor> </bean>

51

52

Chapter 11.

Installing Server-Side Components

First, extract the server-side binary to a temporary directory. The following assumes it was extracted to /tmp/mod_cluster Your next step depends on whether your target server is JBoss AS or JBossWeb/Tomcat.

11.1. Installing in JBoss AS 6.0.0.M1 and up

You don't need to do anything to install the java-side binaries in AS 6.x; it's part of the AS distribution's default, standard and all configurations.

11.2. Installing in JBoss AS 5.x

Assuming $JBOSS_HOME indicates the root of your JBoss AS install and that you want to use mod_cluster in the AS's all config:

cp -r /tmp/mod_cluster/mod_cluster.sar $JBOSS_HOME/server/all/deploy

11.3. Installing in JBoss Web or Tomcat

Assuming $CATALINA_HOME indicates the root of your JBossWeb or Tomcat install:

cp -r /tmp/mod_cluster/JBossWeb-Tomcat/lib/* $CATALINA_HOME/lib/

11.4. Installing in JBoss AS 4.2.x or 4.3.x

Assuming $JBOSS_HOME indicates the root of your JBoss AS install and that you want to use mod_cluster in the AS's all config:

cp -r /tmp/mod_cluster/JBossWeb-Tomcat/lib/mod_cluster.jar $JBOSS_HOME/server/all/deploy/ jboss-web.deployer

53

54

Chapter 12.

Using SSL in mod_cluster

There are 2 connections between the cluster and the front-end. Both could be encrypted. That chapter describes how to encrypt both connections.

12.1. Using SSL between JBossWEB and httpd

As the ClusterListener allows to configure httpd it is adviced to use SSL for that connection. The most easy is to use a virtual host that will only be used to receive information from JBossWEB. Both side need configuration.

12.1.1. Apache httpd configuration part

mod_ssl [http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/mod_ssl.html] of httpd is using to do that. See in one example how easy the configuration is:

Listen 6666 <VirtualHost 10.33.144.3:6666> SSLEngine on SSLCipherSuite AES128-SHA:ALL:!ADH:!LOW:!MD5:!SSLV2:!NULL SSLCertificateFile conf/server.crt SSLCertificateKeyFile conf/server.key SSLCACertificateFile conf/server-ca.crt SSLVerifyClient require SSLVerifyDepth 10 </VirtualHost>

The conf/server.crt file is the PEM-encoded Certificate file for the VirtualHost it must be signed by a Certificate Authority (CA) whose certificate is stored in the sslTrustStore of the ClusterListener parameter. The conf/server.key file is the file containing the private key. The conf/server-ca.crt file is the file containing the certicate of the CA that have signed the client certificate JBossWEB is using. That is the CA that have signed the certificate corresponding to the sslKeyAlias stored in the sslKeyStore of the ClusterListener parameters.

12.1.2. ClusterListener configuration part

There is a wiki [http://www.jboss.org/community/docs/DOC-9300] describing the SSL parameters of the ClusterListener. See in one example how easy the configuration is:

<Listener className="org.jboss.web.cluster.ClusterListener"

55

Chapter 12. Using SSL in mod_...

ssl="true" sslKeyStorePass="changeit" sslKeyStore="/home/jfclere/CERTS/CA/test.p12" sslKeyStoreType="PKCS12" sslTrustStore="/home/jfclere/CERTS/CA/ca.p12" sslTrustStoreType="PKCS12" sslTrustStorePassword="changeit" />

The sslKeyStore file contains the private key and the signed certificate of the client certificate JBossWEB uses to connect to httpd. The certificate must be signed by a Cerficate Authority (CA) who certificate is in the conf/server-ca.crt file of the httpd The sslTrustStore file contains the CA certificate of the CA that signed the certificate contained in conf/server.crt file.

12.1.3. mod-cluster-jboss-beans configuration part

The mod-cluster-jboss-beans.xml in $JBOSS_HOME/server/profile/deploy/mod-cluster.sar/ META-INF in the ClusterConfig you are using you should have something like:

<property name="ssl">true</property> <property name="sslKeyStorePass">changeit</property> <property name="sslKeyStore">/home/jfclere/CERTS/test.p12</property> <property name="sslKeyStoreType">pkcs12</property> <property name="sslTrustStore">/home/jfclere/CERTS/ca.p12</property> <property name="sslTrustStoreType">pkcs12</property> <property name="sslTrustStorePassword">changeit</property>

12.1.4. How the diferent files were created

The files were created using OpenSSL utilities see OpenSSL [http://www.openssl.org/] CA.pl (/ etc/pki/tls/misc/CA for example) has been used to create the test Certificate authority, the certicate requests and private keys as well as signing the certicate requests.

12.1.4.1. Create the CA

1. Create a work directory and work for there:

mkdir -p CERTS/Server cd CERTS/Server

2. Create a new CA:

56

How the diferent files were created

/etc/pki/tls/misc/CA -newca

That creates a directory for example ../../CA that contains a cacert.pem file which content have to be added to the conf/server-ca.crt described above.

12.1.4.2. Create the server certificate

1. Create a new request:

/etc/pki/tls/misc/CA -newreq

That creates 2 files named newreq.pem and newkey.pem. newkey.pem is the file conf/ server.key described above. 2. Sign the request:

/etc/pki/tls/misc/CA -signreq

That creates a file named newcert.pem. newcert.pem is the file conf/server.crt described above. At that point you have created the SSL stuff needed for the VirtualHost in httpd. You should use a browser to test it after importing in the browser the content of the cacert.pem file.

12.1.4.3. Create the client certificate

1. Create a work directory and work for there:

mkdir -p CERTS/Client cd CERTS/Client

2. Create request and key for the JBossWEB part.

/etc/pki/tls/misc/CA -newreq

That creates 2 files: Request is in newreq.pem, private key is in newkey.pem 3. Sign the request.

57

Chapter 12. Using SSL in mod_...

/etc/pki/tls/misc/CA -signreq

That creates a file: newcert.pem 4. Don't use a passphrase when creating the client certicate or remove it before exporting:

openssl rsa -in newkey.pem -out key.txt.pem mv key.txt.pem newkey.pem

5. Export the client certificate and key into a p12 file.

openssl pkcs12 -export -inkey newkey.pem -in newcert.pem -out test.p12

That is the sslKeyStore file described above (/home/jfclere/CERTS/CA/test.p12)

12.2. Using SSL between httpd and JBossWEB

Using https allows to encrypt communications betwen httpd and JBossWEB. But due to the ressources it needs that no advised to use it in high load configuration. (See Encrypting connection between httpd and TC [http://www.jboss.org/community/docs/DOC9701] for detailed instructions). httpd is configured to be a client for AS/TC so it should provide a certificate AS/TC will accept and have a private key to encrypt the data, it also needs a CA certificate to valid the certificate AS/TC will use for the connection.

SSLProxyEngine On SSLProxyVerify require SSLProxyCACertificateFile conf/cacert.pem SSLProxyMachineCertificateFile conf/proxy.pem

conf/proxy.pem should contain both key and certificate. The certificate must be trusted by Tomcat via the CA in truststoreFile of <connector/>. conf/cacert.pem must contain the certificat of the CA that signed the AS/TC certificate. The correspond key and certificate are the pair specificed by keyAlias and truststoreFile of the <connector/>. Of course the <connector/> must be the https one (normally on port 8443).

58

How the diferent files were created

12.2.1. How the diferent files were created

The files were created using OpenSSL utilities see OpenSSL [http://www.openssl.org/] CA.pl (/ etc/pki/tls/misc/CA for example) has been used to create the test Certificate authority, the certicate requests and private keys as well as signing the certicate requests.

12.2.1.1. Create the CA

(See above)

12.2.1.2. Create the server certificate

(See above) The certificate and key need to be imported into the java keystore using keytool make sure you don't use a passphare for the key (don't forget to clean the file when done) 1. Convert the key and certificate to p12 file:

openssl pkcs12 -export -inkey key.pem -in newcert.pem -out test.p12

make sure you use the keystore password as Export passphrase. 2. Import the contents of the p12 file in the keystore:

keytool -importkeystore -srckeystore test.p12 -srcstoretype PKCS12

3. Import the CA certificate in the java trustore: (Fedora13 example).

keytool -import -trustcacerts -alias "caname" \ -file ../../CA/cacert.pem -keystore /etc/pki/java/cacerts

4. Edit server.xml to have a <connector/> similar to:

<Connector port="8443" protocol="HTTP/1.1" SSLEnabled="true" keyAlias="1" truststoreFile="/etc/pki/java/cacerts" maxThreads="150" scheme="https" secure="true" clientAuth="true" sslProtocol="TLS" />

5. Start TC/AS and use openssl s_client to test the connection:

59

Chapter 12. Using SSL in mod_...

openssl s_client -CAfile /home/jfclere/CA/cacert.pem -cert newcert.pem -key newkey.pem \ -host localhost -port 8443

There shouldn't be any error and you should be able to see your CA in the "Acceptable client certificate CA names".

12.3. Forwarding SSL browser informations when using http/https between httpd and JBossWEB
When using http or https beween httpd and JBossWEB you need to use the SSLValve and export the SSL variable as header in the request in httpd. If you are using AJP, mod_proxy_ajp will read the SSL variables and forward them to JBossWEB automaticaly. (See Forwarding SSL environment when using http/https proxy [http://www.jboss.org/community/ docs/DOC-11988] for detailed instructions). The SSL variable used by mod_proxy_ajp are the following:

1. "HTTPS" SSL indicateur. 2. "SSL_CLIENT_CERT" Chain of client certificates. 3. "SSL_CIPHER" Cipher used. 4. "SSL_SESSION_ID" Id of the session. 5. "SSL_CIPHER_USEKEYSIZE" Size of the key used.

60

Chapter 13.

Migration from mod_jk

Mod_cluster only support Apache httpd, there are no plan to support IIS or Iplanet. The migration from mod_jk to mod_cluster is not very complex. Only very few worker properties can't be mapped to mod_cluster parameters. Here is the table of worker properties and how to transfer them in the ClusterListener parameters. mod_jk worker property host port type route domain redirect ClusterListener parameter domain Remarks It is read from the <Connector/ > Address information It is read from the <Connector/ > Port information It is read from the <Connector/ > Protocol information It is read from the <Engine/> JVMRoute information That is not supported in this version The nodes with loadfactor = 0 are standby nodes they will be used no other nodes are available Default 10 seconds KEEP_ALIVE os is always on in mod_cluster The max size is calculated to be AP_MPMQ_MAX_THREADS+1 (max) The defaut is max Time to live when over smax connections. The defaut is 60 seconds Max time to wait for a free worker default 1 second Max retries before returning an error Default: 3 mod_cluster behave mod_jk with value 7 like

socket_timeout socket_keepalive connection_pool_size

nodeTimeout -

connection_pool_minsize connection_pool_timeout

smax ttl

retries recovery_options

workerTimeout maxAttempts -

61

Chapter 13. Migration from mod_jk

mod_jk worker property fail_on_status max_packet_size max_reply_timeouts recovert_time

ClusterListener parameter iobuffersize/receivebuffersize -

Remarks Not supported Not supported in this version. Use ProxyIOBufferSize Not supported The ClusterListener will tell (via a STATUS message) mod_cluster that the node is up again mod_cluster receives this information via ENABLE/ DISABLE/STOP messages mod_cluster handles this via the loadfactor logic The context "mounted" automaticly via the ENABLEAPP messages. ProxyPass could be used too

activation

distance mount

secret connect_timeout

Not supported Not supported. ProxyTimeout or TimeOut (Default seconds) Default 10 seconds Not supported. Use ProxyTimeout or server TimeOut? directive (Default 300 seconds) Use server 300

prepost_timeout reply_timeout

ping -

62

Chapter 14.

Migration from mod_proxy

As mod_cluster is a sophisticated balancer migration from mod_proxy to mod_cluster is strait forward. mod_cluster replaces a reverse proxy with loadbalancing. A reversed proxy is configured like:

ProxyRequests Off <Proxy *> Order deny,allow Allow from all </Proxy> ProxyPass /foo http://foo.example.com/bar ProxyPassReverse /foo http://foo.example.com/bar

All the general proxy parameters could be used in mod_cluster they work like in mod_proxy, only the balancers and the workers definitions are slightly different.

14.1. Workers
Mod_proxy Parameter min max smax ttl acquire disablereuse ClusterListener parameter smax ttl workerTimeout Remarks Not supported in this version mod_cluster uses mod_proxy default value Same as mod_proxy Same as mod_proxy Same as mod_proxy acquire but in seconds mod_cluster will disable the node in case of error and the ClusterListener will for the reuse via the STATUS message Same as mod_proxy Same as mod_proxy Always on: OS KEEP_ALIVE is always used. Use connectionTimeout in the <Connector> if needed Not supported

flushPackets flushwait keepalive

flushPackets flushwait -

lbset

63

Chapter 14. Migration from mo...

Mod_proxy Parameter ping lbfactor

ClusterListener parameter ping -

Remarks Same as mod_proxy Default value 10 seconds The load factor is received by mod_cluster from a calculated value in the ClusterListener Not supported lbfactor sent to 0 makes a standby node ClusterListener will test when the node is back online In fact JBossWEB via the JVMRoute in the Engine will add it mod_cluster has a finer status handling: by context via the ENABLE/STOP/DISABLE/ REMOVE application messages. hot-standby is done by lbfactor = 0 and Error by lbfactor = 1 both values are sent in STATUS message by the ClusterListener Default wait for ever (http:// httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/ mod/mod_proxy.html is wrong there) Default 60 seconds

redirect retry route

JVMRoute

status

timeout

nodeTimeout

ttl

ttl

14.2. Balancers
Mod_proxy Parameter lbmethod ClusterListener parameter Remarks There is only one load balancing method in mod_cluster "cluster_byrequests" Default 3 Same as in mod_proxy The 2 parameters in the ClusterListener are combined in one that behaves like in mod_proxy

maxattempts nofailover stickysession

maxAttempts stickySessionForce StickySessionCookie/ StickySessionPath

64

Balancers

Mod_proxy Parameter timeout

ClusterListener parameter workerTimeout

Remarks Default 1 seconds

65

66

Chapter 15.

Load Balancing Demo Application

15.1. Overview
The mod_cluster distribution includes a demo application that helps demonstrate how different server-side scenarios affect the routing of client requests by the load balancer. The demo application is located in the mod_cluster distribution's demo directory. The demo application consists of two components: 1. The first component is a war file that needs to be deployed in JBossWeb/Tomcat/JBoss AS. The war includes a number of servlets. 2. The second component is a GUI application that allows a user to launch a pool of threads that repeatedly make requests to the load balancer. The requests are ultimately routed to the demo war's primary servlet. The application tracks which servers are handling the requests and displays this information in a chart. The application can also send separate requests to the demo war's load generation servlets, allowing the user to see how different load conditions affect the balancing of requests. Note that the demo application does not actually depend on mod_cluster in any way. Its only dependency is on JBossWeb/Tomcat. Consequently, the demo can be used to demonstrate the effect of different server-side scenarios on the routing decisions made by any load balancer, including mod_jk, mod_proxy or the various hardware load balancers. Note also that this demo application is not intended to be used as a load testing tool; i.e. something that can demonstrate the maximum load a cluster configuration can handle. Using it as such has a good chance of showing you the maximum load the client can generate rather than the maximum load your cluster can handle.
1

15.2. Basic Usage

To run the demo application: 1. Unpack the mod_cluster distribution on your filesystem. Here we assume it has been unzipped to ~/mod_cluster or C:\mod_cluster. 2. Install mod_cluster into your httpd server as described at Installation of the httpd part 3. Install mod_cluster into your JBossAS/JBossWeb/Tomcat servers as described at Installation on the Java side 4. Start httpd and your JBossAS/JBossWeb/Tomcat servers
1

The demo's "Datasource Use" load generation scenario requires the use of JBoss Application Server.

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Chapter 15. Load Balancing De...

5. Deploy the load-demo.war found in the distribution's demo/server folder to your JBossAS/ JBossWeb/Tomcat servers. 6. Start the demo application: a. On *nix:

cd ~/mod_cluster/demo/client ./run-demo.sh

b. On Windows:

C:\>cd mod_cluster\demo\client C:\mod_cluster\demo\client>run-demo

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Client Driver Configuration Options

7. Configure the hostname and address of the httpd server, the number of client threads, etc and click the "Start" button. See Client Driver Configuration Options for details on the configuration options. 8. Switch to the "Request Balancing" tab to see how many requests are going to each of your JBossAS/JBossWeb/Tomcat servers. 9. Switch to the "Session Balancing" tab to see how many active sessions by each of your JBossAS/JBossWeb/Tomcat servers.
2

are being hosted

10.Stop some of your JBossAS/JBossWeb/Tomcat servers and/or undeploy the load-demo.war from some of the servers and see the effect this has on load balancing. 11.Restart some of your JBossAS/JBossWeb/Tomcat servers and/or re-deploy the load-demo.war to some of the servers and see the effect this has on load balancing. 12.Experiment with adding artificial load to one or more servers to see what effect that has on load balancing. See Load Generation Scenarios for details. Most of the various panels in application interface also present information on the current status on any client threads. "Total Clients" is the number of client threads created since the last time the "Start" button was pushed. "Live Clients" is the number of threads currently running. "Failed Clients" is the number of clients that terminated abnormally; i.e. made a request that resulted in something other than an HTTP 200 response.

15.3. Client Driver Configuration Options

The configuration of the client is driver is done via the application's "Clent Control" tab.

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Chapter 15. Load Balancing De...

The panel includes the following options: 1. Proxy Hostname: Hostname of the load balancer or the IP address on which it is listening for requests
3

2. Proxy Port: Port on which the load balancer is listening for requests 4 3. Context Path: Portion of the request URL that specifies the request is for the load-demo.war 4. Session Life: Number of seconds a client thread should use a session before invalidating or abandoning it. Generally it is good to keep this to a small value; otherwise the use of session stickiness will prevent changes in server load from affecting the load balancer's routing decisions. With sticky sessions enabled (strongly recommended), it is the creation of a new session that allows the load balancer to try to balance load. 5. Invalidate: Controls what the client thread should do when it stops using a session because Session Life has passed. If checked, the driver will send a request that results in the session

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Load Generation Scenarios

being invalidated. If unchecked, the session will just be abandoned, and will continue to exist on the server until Session Timeout seconds have passed. In the future this will likely be changed to a percentage input, so X% can be invalidated, the rest abandoned. 6. Session Timeout: Number of seconds a session can remain unused before the server is free to expire it. Unchecking Invalidate and setting a high value relative to Session Life allows a significant number of unused sessions to accumulate on the server. 7. Num Threads: Number of client threads to launch. Each thread repeatedly makes requests until the "Stop" button is pushed or a request receives a response other than HTTP 200. 8. Sleep Time: Number of ms the client threads should sleep between requests. 9. Startup Time: Number of seconds over which the application should stagger the start of the client threads. Staggering the start advised as it avoids the unnatural situation where for the life of the demonstation all sessions start at about the same time and then are invalidated or abandoned at the same time. Staggering the start allows the load balancer to continually see new sessions and decide how to route them.

15.4. Load Generation Scenarios

You can use the application's GUI to instruct individual servers to artificially generate various types of load, and then track how that load affects request and session balancing. Load generation is controlled via the application's "Server Load Control" tab.

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The panel includes the following options:

Target Hostname and Target Port: The hostname or IP address of the server on which you want load generated. There are two strategies for setting these: 1. You can use the hostname and port of the load balancer, in which case the load balancer will pick a backend server and route the request to it. Note the client application does not maintain a session cookie for these requests, so if you invoke another server load generation request, you shouldn't expect the same server to handle it. 2. If the JBoss AS/JBossWeb/Tomcat servers are running the HttpConnector as well as the AJP connector, you can specify the address and port on which a particular server's HttpConnector is listening. The standard port is 8080. Load Creation Action: Specifies the type of load the target server should generate. See below for details on the available load types.

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Params: Zero or more parameters to pass to the specified load creation servlet. For example, in the screenshot above, Number of Connections and Duration. How many parameters are displayed, their name and their meaning depend on the selected Load Creation Action. The label for each parameter includes a tooltip that explains its use. The available Load Creation Actions are as follows: Active Sessions Generates server load by causing session creation on the target server. Datasource Use Generates server load by taking connections from the java:DefaultDS datasource for a period Connection Pool Use Generates server load by tieing up threads in the webserver connections pool for a period Heap Memory Pool Use Generates server load by filling 50% of free heap memory for a period CPU Use Generates server CPU load by initiating a tight loop in a thread Server Receive Traffic Generates server traffic receipt load by POSTing a large byte array to the server once per second for a period Server Send Traffic Generates server traffic send load by making a request once per second to which the server responds with a large byte array Request Count Generates server load by making numerous requests, increasing the request count on the target server

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Chapter 16.

Change Log
16.1. 1.1.3.Final (12 August 2011)
request hang with a node is stopped in EC2 (MODCLUSTER-217) (jfclere) Extra ENABLE-APP/REMOVE-APP event after failover (MODCLUSTER-220) (jfclere) mod_cluster does not work with Tomcat 7 due to API Change in Connector (MODCLUSTER240) (jfclere) kill -HUP httpd process increase the number of open locks (MODCLUSTER-241) (jfclere)

16.2. 1.1.2.Final (21 April 2011)

mod_cluster failover does not work for a / webappcontext when the / root context exists (MODCLUSTER-188) (jfclere) UseAlias (jfclere) broken (MODCLUSTER-212) work in httpd

mod_rewrite PT doesn't (MODCLUSTER-213) (jfclere) memory usage growning (MODCLUSTER-214) (jfclere)

Second attempt to connect from Jboss to apache module sends incomplete Host Header (MODCLUSTER-216) (jfclere) when using tomcat manager webapp to stop/ start an application the start is ignored by mod_cluster (MODCLUSTER-224) (jfclere) Unable to override load properties when running in Tomcat 6 (MODCLUSTER-232) (jfclere) Documentation contains wrong default loadMetric class name (MODCLUSTER-233) (jfclere)

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Chapter 16. Change Log

mod_cluster should issue a warning when Maxcontext is reached and no more context will be taken (MODCLUSTER-223) (jfclere) add a note explaining where Maxcontext must be put in httpd.conf and issue error if in wrong location (MODCLUSTER-225) (jfclere)

16.3. 1.1.1.Final (31 January 2011)

NPE when overriding default load metric in ModClusterListener (MODCLUSTER-183) (pferraro) mod_cluster failover does not work for a / webappcontext when the / root context exists (MODCLUSTER-188) (jfclere) mod_cluster issues an ENABLE-APP too early in the webapp lifecycle (MODCLUSTER-190) (jfclere) mod_cluster 1.1.0 docs step 11.1.4.3 is wrong (MODCLUSTER-193) (jfclere) Incorrect routing of requests when one context root is the prefix of another (MODCLUSTER196) (jfclere) Can only rewrite from the root context in httpd if there is a root context deployed in JBoss (MODCLUSTER-198) (jfclere) the STATUS MCMP message is send before the connector is started (MODCLUSTER-202) (jfclere) The windoze bundle don't have the default configuration (MODCLUSTER-205) (jfclere) httpd cores after graceful restart after the mod_cluster configuration is added (MODCLUSTER-206) (jfclere) Make logging on Tomcat use JDK14LoggerPlugin by default (MODCLUSTER-185) (pferraro) update mod_cluster to use (MODCLUSTER-201) (jfclere) HTTP/1.1

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1.1.0.Final (13 August 2010)

Add support for system properties used in 1.0.x (MODCLUSTER-207) (pferraro)

16.4. 1.1.0.Final (13 August 2010)

Demo servlets InstanceNotFoundException against (MODCLUSTER-170) (pferraro) throw EAP5

mod_advertise: Invalid ServerAdvertise Address too often (MODCLUSTER-172) (jfclere) Fix class name of MBeanAttributeRatioLoadMetric in MC config (MODCLUSTER-174) (pferraro) Wrong configuration could cause an httpd core (MODCLUSTER-175) (jfclere) Advertise not configured error message in log is actually a warning (MODCLUSTER-176) (jfclere) Better no servers connected (MODCLUSTER-165) (jfclere) message

How does the UI deal with 20 or more servers (MODCLUSTER-165) (jfclere) mod_cluster should use hostname provided in address instead a IP address (MODCLUSTER168) (pferraro) Read only view of mod_cluster-manager (MODCLUSTER-181) (jfclere) Demo client throws Bus Error when run with JDK 1.6 on OSX (MODCLUSTER-169) (jfclere) Use versioned docs (MODCLUSTER-141) (jfclere, pferraro) Deprecate use of term "domain" (MODCLUSTER-177) (jfclere, pferraro)

16.5. 1.1.0.CR3 (15 June 2010)

Rpc failure can lead to failure to deploy a webapp (MODCLUSTER-140) (pferraro)

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Quotes in jsessionId causing sticky sessions to fail (MODCLUSTER-146) (jfclere) ManagerBalancerName doesn't (MODCLUSTER-153) (jfclere) work

Parsing of IPv6 loopback address fails (MODCLUSTER-156) (pferraro) SystemMemoryUsageLoadMetric wrong load (pferraro) metric returns (MODCLUSTER-157)

Clean shutdown logic can still inadvertently kill requests for non-distributed contexts. (MODCLUSTER-159) (pferraro) NoClassDefFoundError running demo app against AS6 (MODCLUSTER-161) (pferraro) Allow override of default clean shutdown behavior (MODCLUSTER-139) (pferraro) Avoid unnecessary open sockets for nonmaster nodes (MODCLUSTER-158) (pferraro)

16.6. 1.1.0.CR2 (11 May 2010)

Add the lifecycle listener (MODCLUSTER-20) (pferraro) Use UUID for auto-generated (MODCLUSTER-142) (pferraro) dynamically jvmRoute

improve packaging so that the bundle can run in ~ too (MODCLUSTER-150) (jfclere) jboss.mod_cluster.proxyList: invalid hosts cause mod-cluster startup to be delayed (MODCLUSTER-155) (pferraro) mod_cluster 1.1.0.CR1 doesn't work with Tomcat (MODCLUSTER-143) (jfclere/ pferraro) Allow configuration of stopContextTimeout units (MODCLUSTER-138) (pferraro) Add a solaris10 64 bits sparc in the bundles (MODCLUSTER-137) (jfclere) INFO and mod_cluster_manager/ displays milliseconds and DUMP second (MODCLUSTER-128) (jfclere)

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1.1.0.CR1 (22 March 2010)

Make mod_cluster manager tolerant to F5 page refresh when disabled context (MODCLUSTER-124) (jfclere)

16.7. 1.1.0.CR1 (22 March 2010)

Update httpd to 2.2.25. (MODCLUSTER-134) (jfclere) Apache with mod_cluster refuses to start at first, but after 7 retries it starts up (MODCLUSTER-120) (jfclere) Add getLoad() to load metric mbean interface (MODCLUSTER-130) (pferraro) Disable "cnone" request parameter to ease remote invocation on mod_cluster-manager (MODCLUSTER-127) (jfclere) Microcontainer does not always choose the right constructor when creating ModClusterService (MODCLUSTER-116) (pferraro) Microcontainer does the right constructor RequestCountLoadMetric 126) (pferraro) not choose when creating (MODCLUSTER-

Mod_cluster does support more that 3 Alias in <Host/> (MODCLUSTER-121) (jfclere) Allow toggling of context auto-enable during mod_cluster startup. (MODCLUSTER-125) (pferraro) STATUS should retry the worker even if there was an error before. (MODCLUSTER-133) (jfclere) Split ModClusterServiceMBean.ping(String) into 3 methods (MODCLUSTER-110) (pferraro/jfclere) Use clean shutdown by default, leveraging STOP-APP-RSP for <distributable/> contexts and session draining for non-distributable contexts. mod_cluster shutdown now triggered earlier via Connector JMX notification. (MODCLUSTER-131) (pferraro/jfclere)

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move the web site to (MODCLUSTER-114) (.org team) ping and nodeTimeout (MODCLUSTER-132) (jfclere) update mod_jk to 1.2.30 138) (jfclere) 118) (jfclere)

magnolia interact.

(MODCLUSTER-

query string is truncated to (MODCLUSTERAdvertiseBindAddress does not default to the 23364 port (MODCLUSTER-119) (jfclere) Skip load balance factor calculation if there are no proxies to receive status message (MODCLUSTER-103) (pferraro) Disabling contexts does (MODCLUSTER-123) (jfclere) not work

advertise doesn't use new AdvertiseSecurityKey on graceful restarts. (MODCLUSTER-129) (jfclere) Load-demo.war specifies obsolete servlet in web.xml (MODCLUSTER-113) (pferraro)

16.8. 1.1.0.Beta1 (30 October 2009)

Interaction with mod_rewrite looks weird for end-users. (MODCLUSTER-86) (jfclere) admin-console should be in the excludedContexts. (MODCLUSTER-87) (pferraro) ClassCastException upon redeploy after mod-cluster-jboss-beans.xml modification. (MODCLUSTER-88) (pferraro) Alias from webapps/jboss-web.xml are not handled correctly in mod_cluster. (MODCLUSTER-89) (jfclere) Display version. (MODCLUSTER-90) (jfclere) Connector bind address of 0.0.0.0 propagated to proxy. (MODCLUSTER-91) (pferraro) Display status of the worker. (MODCLUSTER92) (jfclere)

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1.1.0.Beta1 (30 October 2009)

Update httpd to lastest (MODCLUSTER-93) (jfclere)

version.

getProxyInfo failed when there are too many nodes. (MODCLUSTER-94) (jfclere) mod_cluster-manager display corrupted with jboss starting. (MODCLUSTER-95) (jfclere) DISABLE application active as STOPPED. (MODCLUSTER-96) (jfclere) Httpd should remove workers it can't ping. (MODCLUSTER-97) (jfclere) Linux mod_cluster_manager display zero instead values. (MODCLUSTER-98) (jfclere) mod_cluster_manager doesn't seem to ENABLE/DISABLE the right context. (MODCLUSTER-99) (jfclere) load balancing logic doesn't allow manual demo of load-balancing. (MODCLUSTER-100) (jfclere) 404 errors when load is (MODCLUSTER-102) (jfclere) increasing.

Advertise security key verification does not work. (MODCLUSTER-104) (jfclere) Allow advertise listener to listen on a specific network interface. (MODCLUSTER106) (pferraro) Allow thread factory injection for advertise listener. (MODCLUSTER-108) (pferraro) Create SPI and isolate tomcat/jbossweb usage into service provider implementation. (MODCLUSTER-111) (pferraro)

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Chapter 17.

Frequently Asked questions

17.1. What is Advertise
Advertise allows autodiscovery of httpd proxies by the cluster nodes. It is done by sending multicast messages from httpd to the cluster. The httpd specialized module: mod_advertise sends UDP message on a multicast group, both mod_advertise and the cluster listener joined the multicast group and the cluster receives the messages. Example for mod_advertise message:

HTTP/1.0 200 OK Date: Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:26:32 GMT Sequence: 16 Digest: f2d5f806a53effa6c67973d2ddcdd233 Server: 1b60092e-76f3-49fd-9f99-a51c69c89e2d X-Manager-Address: 127.0.0.1:6666 X-Manager-Url: /bla X-Manager-Protocol: http X-Manager-Host: 10.33.144.3

The X-Manager-Address header value is used by the cluster logic to send information about the cluster to the proxy. It is the IP and port of the VirtualHost where mod_advertise is configured or URL parameter of the ServerAdvertise directive. See Proxy Discovery in Configuration Properties and mod_advertise in Apache httpd configuration.

17.2. What to do if I don't want to use Advertise (multicast):

In the VirtualHost receiving the MCPM of httpd.conf don't use any Advertise directive or use:

ServerAdvertise Off

In mod_cluster-jboss-beans.xml add the addresses and ports of the VirtualHost to the proxyList property and set advertise to false, for example:

<property name="proxyList">10.33.144.3:6666,10.33.144.1:6666</property> <property name="advertise">false</property>

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In server.xml (with JBossweb/Tomcat)

<Listener className="org.jboss.modcluster.catalina.ModClusterListener" advertise="true"/>

17.3. I am using Tomcat 7 / 6 what should I do:

See at the end of java configuration. You can't use the mod_cluster clustered mode with Tomcat so you get a loadbalancing logic similar to mod_jk but with a dynamic configuration.

17.4. It is not working what should I do:

Most likely you have a configuration problem. Check the log of the cluster nodes and error_log of httpd.

17.4.1. No error
That happens when Advertise is not working: The nodes don't get the advertise messages from httpd.

1. Check the modules are loaded and Advertise is started. In httpd.conf activate extended information display, add:

AllowDisplay On

When accessing to the mod_cluster_manager you should get something like:

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If not, go to the Minimal Example and add the missing directive(s). 2. Check that Advertise message are received on the cluster node. A small Java [http:// anonsvn.jboss.org/repos/mod_cluster/trunk/test/java/Advertize.java] utility could be used to check Advertise. It is in the mod_cluster repository and can be compiled using javac. A compiled version can be found under in /opt/jboss/httpd/tools in the bundles. Run it using java Advertise multicastaddress port. The output should be something like:

[jfclere@jfcpc java]$ java Advertize 224.0.1.105 23364 ready waiting... received: HTTP/1.0 200 OK Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:30:31 GMT Sequence: 1 Digest: df8a4321fa99e5098174634f2fe2f87c

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Server: 1403c3be-837a-4e76-85b1-9dfe5ddb4378 X-Manager-Address: test.example.com:6666 X-Manager-Url: /1403c3be-837a-4e76-85b1-9dfe5ddb4378 X-Manager-Protocol: http X-Manager-Host: test.example.com

3. No Advertise messages Check firewall (don't forget the boxes firewall). Advertise uses UDP port 23364 and multicast addresse 224.0.1.105 4. Can't get Advertise messages Use ProxyList property. In case Advertise can't work you put the address and port of the VirtualHost used in httpd to receive the MCMP. In server/profile/deploy/mod_cluster.sar/METAINF/mod_cluster-jboss-beans.xml

<property name="proxyList">test.example.com:6666</property>

or in server.xml:

<Listener className="org.jboss.modcluster.catalina.ModClusterListener" proxyList="test.example.com:6666"/>

17.4.2. Error in server.log or catalina.out

1. "IO error sending command ": Check firewall and error_log if there is nothing error_log then it is a firewall problem. If you have something like:

18:36:14,533 INFO [DefaultMCMPHandler] IO error sending command INFO to proxy jfcpc/ 10.33.144.3:8888

You can use telnet hostname/address port to check by hands that it is OK for example:

[jfclere@jfcpc docs]$ telnet 10.33.144.3 8888 Trying 10.33.144.3... Connected to jfcpc. Escape character is '^]'. GET /

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<html><body><h1>It works!</h1></body></html>Connection closed by foreign host.

Check that the address and port are the expected ones you may use ServerAdvertise On http:/ /hostname:port, like:

ServerAdvertise On http://localhost:6666

Or use the servlet testhttpd in the testhttpd.war of the bundle (in /opt/jboss/httpd/tools). Install/ deploy it in in the node and start the AS/Tomcat on the node, than access to the node directly and call /testhttpd/testhttpd

If you don't get a similar page the output should help to find that is wrong.

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17.4.3. Error in error_log

1. "client denied by server configuration": The directory in the VirtualHost is not allowed for the client. If you have something like:

Mon Jun 28 18:08:47 2010] [error] [client 10.33.144.3] client denied by server configuration: /

You need to have something like:

<Directory /> Order deny,allow Deny from all Allow from 10.33.144.3 </Directory>

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